President Donald Trump reportedly told a group of Republican lawmakers during a closed-door Oval Office meeting Tuesday night that he is seriously considering firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — the very official he nominated in 2017 to lead the U.S. central bank.
According to CBS News, The New York Times, and several other outlets including CNBC and Bloomberg, Trump not only raised the idea of ousting Powell but went so far as to wave a draft termination letter in front of roughly a dozen House Republicans, signaling that the move could come soon. Lawmakers present reportedly supported the proposal.
The tension between Trump and Powell is longstanding but has escalated in recent months over Powell’s resistance to lowering interest rates — a move the president has aggressively pushed for amid economic uncertainty. Powell has also publicly voiced concern over the potential damage Trump’s trade policies, including tariffs, may have on the U.S. economy.
Although the president denied on Wednesday that Powell’s firing was imminent, he doubled down on his dissatisfaction with the Fed chair’s performance.
“He’s doing a lousy job,” Trump told reporters, according to The Washington Post, but added that “I’m not talking about that” when asked about a potential dismissal. “I talked about the concept of firing [Powell]. Almost everyone said I should, but I’m more conservative than they are.”
The Wall Street Journal added that Trump described it as “highly unlikely” he would actually remove Powell, “unless he has to leave for fraud.”
Legally, Trump’s options are limited. The Supreme Court ruled in May that Federal Reserve officials cannot be removed by the president without cause — a term generally interpreted to mean misconduct, not policy disagreements. Powell’s current term runs through May 2026.
Further complicating the feud is the administration’s scrutiny of a $2 billion renovation project at the Federal Reserve’s historic headquarters. The overhaul, which began in 2021 and was meant to consolidate much of the central bank’s staff, has already exceeded budget projections by an estimated $700 million. Powell has requested that the Fed’s inspector general launch a review of the project.
While Trump’s frustrations with Powell are well documented, the latest development — involving an actual draft dismissal letter — marks the sharpest signal yet that the president is willing to cross a legal and institutional line to realign monetary policy with his political goals. Whether he follows through or uses the threat as leverage remains to be seen.